There has been a long standing need for means to alleviate or prevent the damage often found on books which are frequently removed from and replaced in a storage space on a shelf. The damage most often observed occurs at the top of the spine (the back of the binding) of such books and is caused by repeated removal of a book by hooking the tip or tips of fingers over the top of the spine to pull the book from its storage place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,823 discloses an identification handle for use on accordion file pockets. The handle is rectangular with straight edges. The ends of the handle are adhesively attached to the front and back walls of a file pocket, and the unattached intermediate portion of the handle extends around the expandable side gusset of the pocket. The edges and outside face of the handle have no visible or tangible indication of how much of each end of the handle should be fastened to the file pocket. If not enough of either or both end portions is fastened, the fastening will be too weak. If too much is fastened, not enough clearance will be allowed between the handle and the side of the file pocket. Also, in the embodiment of FIGS. 5 and 6, the free, loop portion, which is subject to the tendency to tear under use conditions, is only a single thickness. In the embodiment of FIGS. 2-4, part of the loop portion has a double thickness created by folding tabs against the back, but the reinforcing layer is not continuous and the main layer is interrupted by a window.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,021,787 discloses a carrying handle for parcels which, if made in the appropriate size and proportions, could serve as a book puller and has a double thickness center portion. However, the total cross-sectional area of the center portion is not increased because the double thickness is provided by folding the edges of the material over on itself in the center portion. Moreover, the reinforcing layer is not continuous, but rather is split longitudinally down the middle. No actual reinforcement is achieved and the process of cutting and folding the center portion will add more to the cost of the item than simply adding a layer of material to the center portion. The ends of the cuts needed to allow folding over the edges of the center portion will produce stress raising points at the end of each cut which increases the chances of the material tearing under use loads. Further, and most important, the cross-sectional areas effective at the cuts is only one half that of the basic handle.
Other prior art U.S. patents to be considered are U.S. Pat. Nos. 106,234; 753,585; 829,988; 870,958; 1,130,893, 1,760,574; 1,593,999; 2,465,616; and 3,828,454. The last listed patent discloses a tag with reinforcing patches.